Lover Birds

By Leon Egan

Reading Age 14+

* Shortlisted for the 2025 Waterstones Children's Book Prize – Older Readers category *

* Shortlisted for the 2025 YA Book Prize *

When Isabel Williams moves to Liverpool, she criticises seemingly everything in Eloise Byrne’s life – her city, her accent, her trademark boldness – so if, when she catches Isabel staring, Eloise feels her pulse race, it must be because they hate each other. It surely couldn’t be for any other reason, could it? Eloise needs to get her ADHD under control in time for A-Levels, but when she meets Isabel, school becomes the least of her concerns. What begins as outright contempt turns into an oddly satisfactory rivalry, but for their rivalry to shift further into romance, their relationship must withstand Isabel's classism, Eloise’s distrust, and whatever secrets their friends are hiding from them.

With a wonderful cast of characters, an irresistible enemies to lovers, Queer romance, and an incredibly moving and powerful portrayal of ADHD and neurodivergence, Lover Birds is an unmissable debut from an extraordinary new voice in YA fiction.